Since Tim started his own group (The WednesdayNight Group) back in the mid 70’s his whole approachto teaching is based on the key principles of a strongfoundation and attribute training. I hear all the time peo-ple asking “Does Trapping Work?”, “Which stanceworks best in JKD?” and “Does Jeet Kune Do differ toMMA?” I hope the following pages answer some ofthese questions.

I guess the first place to start is STRUCTURE orFOUNDATION of Jeet Kune Do, for you to label yourstyle/art as JKD there are some basic rules; 1. Power Side Forwards2. Well-balanced, relaxed and functional structure.3. Primary focus on intercepting and non-telegraphic

attacks.4. Efficient Control of Distance

So where do we go once we have a JKD structure?We have the basic tools, Straight Lead, Rear Straight,Shin/Knee Side Kick, Step & Slide, Pendulumetc........... but “How do we make them work???”

We need to look at attribute training, attribute train-ing is taking the key principals of our martial art andensuring it does the job right. Let’s take agility and theboxer’s right cross, in the hands of Mike Tyson, theright cross is a devastating weapon, but let’s take awayhis ability to move smoothly or efficiently and be coordi-nated. Tyson would never get close enough to use thisawesome weapon.

Attribute training will help you take your basic foun-dation of tools and footwork and help you build them tobecome part of you.

ATTRIBUTES/ELEMENTS of Martial ArtsAgility - the ability to move with coordinated quickness. Drill: One of the drills we use in the UK WNG is shad-ow boxing just using footwork to music. The idea is tomove along with the music, not only on the beat of themusic but in-between the beats. This can also be donewith a partner maintaining the “Fighting Measure” (Thedistance between two opponents that requires you oryour opponent to step in to striking range)

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JKD FOR ALL...With Kwoklyn Wan

MakingJKD Work?After years of training and research, my teacher the Legendary Tim Tackettdeveloped some basic drills to see if you have the understanding, foundation andability (under pressure) to make JEET KUNE DO work.

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Balance - the ability to move with equilibrium. Thereare two types of balance Static & Dynamic. Dynamic balance is by far the most important, without ityou cannot generate power. Balance must always beinherently “alive” even when you appear stationary/static. Drill: Using the Agility drill, we then have someoneshouting NOW at random, as soon as you hear thecommand you must stop, whilst maintaining a well-bal-anced functional structure. We also do the drill so whenyou hear the command you must strike the pads with apre set tool (i.e. the shin/knee side kick). We also dothis mixing up defensive and offensive movements onlythis time if we are moving in time with the beats youmust react with the beat.

Coordination - the harmonious actions of the vari-ous parts of a movement or a series of movements.Drill: One of the drills Sifu Tim teaches which helps withBalance and Coordination is: Have your partner in a BaiJong (On Guard) position but with their eyes closed, youthe pad man then circles them, (a third party thenshouts go) your partner then has to immediately findyou and hit the pre set combination on the pads (i.e.Jab, Cross, Lead Hook). You could also do this mixingup the combinations with no pre set combos.

Flexibility - the physical means to perform thedesired move by making sure that your muscles arestretched enough to do the move. A lot of JKD’ers neglect their own flexibility. Why? WellI’m guessing it’s because they heard this; Bruce wasonce quoted saying “I am as unlikely to punch you inthe foot as I am to kick you in the head” so immediatelythey convince themselves that they don’t need tostretch as they are never going to kick you that high.

The truth is, if Bruce had the opportunity to round

kick you in the head, he would! When training inAmerica my good friend and WNG Instructor VinceRaimondi always has us working on kicking and flexibil-ity. One year whilst in a restaurant in Kansas we hadkicked so much during that day that my hamstringcramped and I ended up kicking Vince in mid spasm!

Now rather than giving you a bunch of stretches toperform try Googling “Flexibility Training for MartialArts”. There are loads of great sites to choose from.

Grace - the beauty of form and motion. Before, during and after any movement in JKD thereshould be an effortless continuity, a flow. It shouldappear seamless as one technique flows into another, itshould not look jittery. Drill: The best way to practice grace is to move andkeep it fluid. Practice piecing combinations togetherconcentrating on flow, weight shift and balance. Keep inmind the natural why the body moves, core rotation,forwards and backwards, and circular movements.

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JKD ThoughtsTo me there is no debate as to whether or not BruceLee was the coolest man to ever pick up a pair ofnunchucks, or even punch anyone in the face (whichputs him against such legendary face-punchers such asHarrison Ford and Bruce Willis). The man’s accomplish-ments not only in martial arts, but also in philosophyand cultural advancement (he was the first Asian per-son to portray a leading Asian character in television orfilm), dwarf those of nearly any living media figure, andhave firmly cemented his reputation as one of the lead-ing folk heroes of the Twentieth Century. His legacy willlive on with the great icons and leaders, James Dean,Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther King and Kennedy!

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Muscular Endurance - the ability to keep doing thenecessary techniques and movements as long asnecessary. Bruce was once asked “Sifu how do I train to hit as hardas you?” Bruce replied “Pick any drill, let’s say the leadhook/round kick. Now for the next 15 minutes kick thatbag as hard, and as fast as you can. If you can do thisfor 15 minutes you will be able to kick as hard as me”Drill: Well I’m guessing you get the idea, pick a drill(i.e. Lead Hook Punch) now starting at 5 minutes withperfect form, balance, coordination, grace punch thatbag as hard, and as fast as you can. When you feelthat you’re hitting the bag with same amount as powerfrom minute 1 to minute 5 add one minute and so on.

Power - the ability to hit hard enough to do the job.This is one of those attributes you need a training part-ner. You’ll need someone watching your form. Somethings to look out for whilst trying to generate awesomepower; Weight Shift is the weight moving to early, are

you landing the shot when the weight has alreadymoved? Core rotation, are you rotating into the shot?Hip alignment; is your hip in line with your shot?Footwork, has your foot landed to early or too late?

Reaction - the ability to react instantly in the cor-rect manner to an attack or an opening in youropponents defence. This is one of those attributes that takes time to perfect,hours upon hours sparring and coming up with as manydrills as you can to get you to react that millisecondfaster. We have hundreds of drills based around thisone attribute, when building your own drills look atAttacking, Offensive and Defensive drills.Drill: Facing your partner in an on guard position at thefighting measure, partner steps in with a very wide leadhook as soon as you see their movement burst in witha straight lead, thus interrupting the delivery of yourpartners attack.

Rhythm - the ability to recognize the rhythm of yourmovements and that of your opponents so you canbetter control the rhythm of the fight. To understand rhythm you need to create rhythm, thenonce created you need to break rhythm.

When two opponents fight in cadence (rhythmic flowof movement) of one another you’ll find very little hap-pens, but once the rhythm is broken then we start tosee shots landing.Drill: Bruce had set patterns he would use when train-ing rhythm;1. 1, 2, 3 (Rhythmic Flow)2. 1 2, 3 (fast fast, slow)3. 1, 2 3 (slow, fast fast)4. 1 - 2 (Rhythmic Flow)5. O, N, E - 2 (Delayed 1, 2)6. - 1, 2 (Very Fast 1 “full speed, full power but no

depth”, 2)7. + 1, 2 (Extra deep in depth 1, 2)

Speed - the ability to react quickly and the ability tomove fast enough to avoid an attack or to score onyour opponent. Speed can be trained in many ways, Perceptual,Mental, Initiation, Mechanical, Interruption, Retractionand Recovery.

When fighting, martial artists must constantly senseand respond to various stimuli. Mastering the ability toperceive the subtleties in an opponent’s movements, ishe attacking, retreating, punching or kicking? Simply see-ing the opponent’s movements is not enough. You mustlearn to hear, feel and smell the opponent’s intentions.

Perception speed is defined as the time it takes youto mentally register the opponent’s intentions once youfirst sense his offensive or defensive stimulus. Toincrease your speed of perception, it is important tomaintain an attitude of “emptiness,” or what Bruce Leecalled “no-mindedness.” You must learn not to concen-trate too much on details. Look at nothing, but senseeverything. According to Lee, “A concentrated mind isnot an attentive mind, but a mind that is in the state ofawareness can concentrate. Awareness is never exclu-sive, it includes everything. A mind must be wide opento function freely in thought.”

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This Month’s Bruce Lee facts!The very name Bruce Lee reminds us of a well built

muscular martial arts hero with lightning-fast hands, and

devastating kicks. Not only was he a Hollywood movie

star but Bruce had accomplished many things in his

very short life. Here are just a few Bruce Lee facts

thanks to www.google.com 1. At the age of 18 Bruce won a major Cha-Cha danc-

ing championship.2. During High school in America Bruce became the

High School Boxing Champion.

3. Bruce wasn’t full Chinese he was also part German.

4. Bruce attended the University of Washington, where

he majored in philosophy with focus on the philo-

sophical principles of martial art techniques.

5. Bruce supported himself in college by teaching mar-

tial arts. Later, Bruce dropped out of college to open

his own martial arts school.6. In 1964, Bruce was invited to a karate championship

in Long Beach, California. There he performed his

famous “One Inch Punch,” where he would deliver a

devastating blow from only an inch away, sending

his opponent flying back!

In 1964 the Chinese community got Wong Jack Man

(A Chinese Martial Arts Instructor) to challenge Bruce

because he was teaching the Caucasians martial arts.

After the fight (which Bruce won in around 3 minutes)

he sat with his head in hands and was extremely upset

with his performance in the fight.Bruce felt that he had become very winded in the

fight; and that his physical condition wasn’t good

enough and had let him down. Bruce felt his classical

martial arts training had not served him well during the

battle, and he was no longer fluid and couldn’t get the

job done quickly enough. At this point he decided to do away with his tradition-

al training and let it “die”. As a symbol he asked George

Lee to make him something as a reminder. George cre-

ated a miniature Grave Stone with the words etched on

“In memory of a once fluid man crammed and distorted

by the classical mess” Thanks to this silly phrase the

birth of Jeet Kune Do was born.

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Bruce Lee CompetitionMake sure you pick up next month’s copy for your chance to win some Bruce Lee goodies supplied byMr Wai Man at www.onesixthbruce.co.uk

JKD NEWSDear JKD’ers,Chris Kent is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost authorities on Jeet Kune Do, and has gainedinternational recognition for his knowledge and leadership in perpetuating the art, training methods, and philoso-phy developed by the legendary Bruce Lee.

Dan Inosanto’s last student (and youngest) to be accepted into his Legendary Backyard Group, Sifu Chris Kent, iscoming to the UK (from the USA) for his first UK Tour in over 10 Years!

“Yes Chris was here last year in Stoke and then a couple Months later in Leicester, but you could hardly call thata TOUR!”

Sifu Chris Kent joined Dan Inosanto’s legendary backyard group at the young age of 17. Dan Inosanto was BruceLee’s closest friend & confidante, and ran the LA Chinatown School until the untimely death of Bruce in 1973. The Legendary Sifu Chris Kent has featured extensively in the Original JKD Textbooks written by Dan Inosantoback in the 70’s, and co-authored numerous JKD Textbooks with The Living Legend Tim Tackett.

We are very fortunate to present Sifu Chris Kent in his first UK JKD Tour in 10 years!

PLACES ARE LIMITED, so to avoid disappointment, BOOK NOW!!!

Seminar: Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do with Chris KentDates: * LONDON Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th June 2010* CORNWALL Monday 28th & Tuesday 29th June 2010* (To Be Confirmed) Wednesday 30th June 2010* MANCHESTER Thursday 1st & Friday 2nd July 2010* LEICESTER Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th July 2010

Contact: Kwoklyn Wan Tel: 0116-253-8668Email: kwoklynwan@yahoo.co.ukURL: www.urbanmartialarts.com

Bruce Lee Tattoo: Just to recap Shannon was inspired to learn of a Yankee Base ball player having a Bruce LeeTattoo, and in the belief (after a freak accident) it actually saved his career by him channelling Bruce’s energy!?!?!? Shannon said “It started me thinking that I would like to see some of the tattoos of my Dad that are out there.Maybe we will do a contest for the best Bruce Lee tattoo”. So all you UK Bruce Lee fans if you have a Tattoo ofBruce Lee, send me a picture via Email, I’ll print some in the JKD column and will personally forward them to theBruce Lee estate. Email me your pictures to kwoklynwan@yahoo.co.uk

As we write the column a couple of months in advance, here are some I have found via the World Wide Web.

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Mental speed is the time it takes to mentally registerand select the appropriate action.

Initiation speed is the time it takes to initiate theaction you chose.

Mechanical speed, (the easiest speed to train) is theability to move the body as fast as you can to score ofdefend.

Interruption speed is the ability to be able to adapt tothe interruption of one technique and flow.

Retraction speed is the time it takes for you to begin torecover your balance/centre or limb after your movement.

Recovery speed is the time taken to be balancedand ready to go again.

Other attributes you should include are; Skill,Strength, Timing, Fitness, & Knowledge. The drills Ihave included above are just examples; it is up to us asmartial artists to come up with drills that can help buildour own ATTRIBUTES in our martial art.

So going back to some questions we are asked asJKD practitioners “Does Trapping Work?” the answer isif I train all of my trapping, incorporating all of the aboveattributes then YES.

“Which stance works best in JKD?” The basic struc-ture for the ON GUARD position is power side for-wards, feet approximately shoulder width apart in aHeel, Toe alignment. Weight balance is around 50/50.Now as an individual student in JKD make it yours, youmay need to widen the stance, you might want slightlymore weight on the rear foot (I would not recommend tomuch weight on the lead). Then work through the attrib-utes above and make it WORK!

“Does Jeet Kune Do differ to MMA?” As a JKD’er doI train to hit someone as hard as physically possible inthe pretence of knocking them out? Yes, as do MMAFighters. Would I submit my opponent with a rearnaked choke or arm bar? NO but I would try and snapthe neck or arm if given that situation. So to ask me, I’d

say YES MMA does differ from JKD, In MMA the ath-letes train within set rules and regulations where asJKD there are NO such rules.

Keep Blasting until next time Kwoklyn Wan

Kwoklyn Wan is a Certified Instructor under Tim Tackettand is the WNG European Representative. Kwoklyn isalso on WNG Board of Directors

For further details on workshops, seminars and regulartraining please contact Kwoklyn Wan on:Telephone: (0116) 253 8668Email: info@urbanmartialarts.com URL: www.urbanmartialarts.com URL: www.jkdwednite.com Forum: www.jkdtalk.com

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